Imagination Connoisseur, Tommy Mårtensson, makes the case that the Jurassic Park franchise may be permanently broken – and judging by the reaction to previews of the latest installment (JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION), he may be right.
Could Jurassic Park go the way of the dinosaurs? That’s not as obvious as it sounds.
I think the current state of “Jurassic Park/World”-franchise is sad and in a way, it echoes what has happened to Star Trek.
The original Jurassic Park, while it most definitely is a movie with adventure, spectacle, action, and even horror is at its core quite a serious science fiction movie.
The movie takes its time, not only to set the stage and build tension but to establish the “world” of the movie and you have lengthy scenes of the characters simply interacting, not only establishing who they are as characters but discussing ideas. And at the heart of the movie the idea of “mankind interacting with nature” is explored and all the action and suspense in the second half builds on those discussions and ideas despite it featuring dinosaurs Spielberg manages to ground it in a believable reality.
None of the sequels seem as interested in exploring these ideas more than they’re interested in spectacle and having dinosaurs killing people – and the two “Jurassic World” movies are the worst offenders of this. They’re shallow, hollow movies devoid of all sense of reality.
There are no themes or ideas actually explored other than having throwaway, stupid lines of dialogue briefly suggesting an idea and then they cut to the action.
In the original movie, the action and suspense scenes served the story and characters.
In the new movies, the story and characters are just filler between the scenes with spectacle and the writing suffers immensely from it even the action sequences are too over the top and cartoony to make you believe them which just makes them boring, especially since they tend to go on and on.
To me, they’re no better than modern Star Trek and it’s also why I have no desire to see “Jurassic World: Dominion” other than as a form of morbid curiosity to see how badly they will fuck it up.
Editor’s Note: Here are the first five minutes of the movie which were released to “entice” people to watch the rest in the theater …
Does “stunt casting” work?
Imagination Connoisseur, ROBB, shares his thoughts on how Star Trek: Discovery handled its casting of Democratic politician, Stacey Abrams, as the president of a united Earth in the show’s finale. Personal politics aside, ROBB seems to feel Star Trek’s producers missed an opportunity to send a message about unity at a time when we could all use it.
Will Superman be returning in 4K someday?
Long-time PGS Member, Kenny Kraly Jr., writes in to the LET’S GET PHYSICAL MEDIA show to ask for their predictions on the possibility of getting more Superman movies out on 4k Blu-Ray.
On the topic of “Gatekeeping” …
Imagination Connoisseur, Jason Miller, writes a letter of support for ROBSERVATIONS host, Robert Meyer Burnett, who has recently proclaimed himself the Gatekeeper of Geekdom. Jason shares his experience defending RMB’s joke (made on Twitter) and arrives at an inescapable conclusion that everyone should probably take to heart.
Attention Star Command, there seems to be a problem with Buzz Lightyear
ROADTRIPPIN’ co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden respond to letters from listeners proposing a variety of reasons as to why Pixar’s latest animated feature, LIGHTYEAR, didn’t meet expectations during its opening weekend. Was it a result of bad casting, a strained relationship between studios, convoluted marketing or stronger-than-expected competition? No one is sure – but it’s possible the problem runs much deeper than an origin story for an action figure might let on.
How to accept Star Trek now so you don’t go insane!
Imagination Connoisseur, Adam Talley, writes in to explain how he now views the Star Trek franchise – a way that acknowledges the “good old days” so many OG fans pine for and the new innovations we’re seeing in stores, online, and in theaters.
Why is Obi-Wan the most boring thing about the Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming series on Disney+?
ROADTRIPPIN’ co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden discuss the broader implications of a question posed by an Imagination Connoisseur who asks why Obi-Wan Kenobi is such a boring character in his own series. In fact, one could ask why so many Star Wars series seem to be “running in place” and not really going anywhere with characters who don’t seem to be doing all that much. Is there a larger force at work here that no one seems to acknowledge? And where have we heard THAT before?
Does it make sense to remake good movies?
ROADTRIPPIN’ co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden respond to a letter from an Imagination Connoisseur who asks why Hollywood seems content remaking and re-booting successful movies rather than making movies with “great potential” that might have not met expectations when they were first released to the public. As Rob and Mike point out, there’s a lot more involved in a successful remake than one might imagine.
Rob comes out and admits he’s THE Gatekeeper of Fandom
Co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden discuss Rob’s recent revelation that he is, in fact, THE GATEKEEPER OF ALL FANDOM and what Imagination Connoisseurs can now expect of him serving as the judge, jury and adjudicator of all things geeky. Plus interesting letters from fans.
Lots of Star Trek-y goodness on the Interwebs lately
In less time than it takes for a tribble to become a grandparent, here’s a list of the eight most interesting, Trek-related things we’ve found worth sharing with our fellow Imagination Connoisseurs …
Making a case for LIFE after ALIEN
Imagination Connoisseur, S’wak Props, thinks Ridley Scott could have done much better when it came to making a sequel to his 1979 sci-fi/horror classic, ALIEN. Instead of Scott’s ALIEN COVENANT, S’wak recommends you check out Daniel Espinosa’s LIFE which includes Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds among others in the cast.
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